How Belgian Chocolate Brand Lekkco is Spreading the Love

A dark chocolate spread that’s nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, non-GMO, low sugar recipe made with all-natural ingredients sourced in Europe? Call us enticed. One that doubles as the ideal addition to breakfast, snacks, and dessert? Call us interested. Very interested. The story behind Lekkco, a Chicago-based company with Belgian roots, began in 2017. Launched by Jennifer Lukas-Bourgeois and her husband Bram, the tale is a delectable one well worth telling.

Company Background

As Lekkco’s chief brand officer and co-founder, Lukas-Bourgeois brings a background rich in consumer packaged goods experience (CPG) and lifestyle marketing. In fact, she was part of the team that launched Red Bull stateside back in 1996. “I was with them for 18 years and worked in multiple markets—that's where I got my marketing chops and my understanding of CPG consumer marketing,” she says. “When we launched, no one knew what an energy drink was. The category didn’t exist. Growing Red Bull from the ground up—brand awareness-wise, trial, and everything behind it—really contributed to what we’re doing [at Lekkco] today.” After she left Red Bull in 2014, Lukas-Bourgeois wanted to do something different. “My husband is from Belgium, and Belgians are the number one consumers of chocolate worldwide (and champagne as a funny side note!),” she explains. “The Belgians and the Swiss are known for excellent chocolate, and when my husband and I were just dating, I would go over there, and everything centered around chocolate.”

In fact, she adds, people have chocolate for breakfast, as a snack, or anything in between from birth to death. “It’s high-quality chocolate. Not to dog some of the American chocolates, but they use a lot of fillers,” Lukas-Bourgeois says. “There’s a true difference between trying chocolates from other countries and some of the generics you see here in the states. I really appreciated the quality of the [Belgium] product. After she and her husband got engaged, married, and had kids, Lukas-Bourgeois and her family started bringing chocolate in from Belgium to enjoy at home. Her daughters were raised on it actually, eating chocolate every morning for breakfast in some way, shape, or form—whether that be on waffles, pancakes, or strawberries. “For us, especially as Americans, you see chocolate immediately as a dessert,” Lukas-Bourgeois notes, “and you put in into that category as a sweet.” However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Creating a Healthier Chocolate Brand

There are plenty of functional and health benefits to dark chocolate and milk chocolate, she says, and any friends who sampled the goods she had were shocked by how amazing it all was. Inspired by her in-laws when her family was visiting overseas, Lukas-Bourgeois and her husband got to work on creating a chocolate spread brand to bring to America and Lekkco was born. The team works with a contract manufacturer in Belgium to guarantee it’s real Belgium dark chocolate. European-sourced ingredients used included the sugar source (glucose syrup), which is actually sugar beets. “We manufacture, we import it, but Lekkco is our brand, our company,” says Lukas-Bourgeois, “so we control how much is brought in and all the good stuff behind it.”

As advocates for the health aspect of chocolate, the team at Lekkco are also excellent ambassadors for highlighting the diversity of how to enjoy it. “If you dive deep into the benefits of chocolate, there’s a ton of them and it’s a great fuel-up,” Lukas-Bourgeois says. “A lot of my friends say their kids to eat fruit because they eat it with Lekkco. We’ve made about 150 different recipes of the product as well. To have that healthier aspect of a breakfast or snack with chocolate isn’t that far-fetched. It’s funny how the perception is here [in the U.S.], so we always try to educate people.” In addition to the dark chocolate spread, the Lekkco line includes dark chocolate with Caramel Sea Salt, Coconut, and Caribbean Banana as well.

A Company with a Conscience

Both Lukas-Bourgeois and her husband have their hands in managing all areas of the company and work with a small, nimble team whose impact keeps expanding. Social causes are a major part of the company’s mission, and the creation of Chocolate for Charity—launched in August 2021—is one of its biggest initiatives. “Chocolate for Charity allows different charities of any size to make funds through the sales of Lekkco,” Lukas-Bourgeois explains. “We give back 33 percent of the proceeds and 100 percent of the add-on donations to the charities that we work with.”

For evergreen campaigns, partnering with the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) is at the top of their list to support awareness, education, fundraising, and understanding in lieu of her older daughter’s diagnosis. The company also works with St. Jude and a number of animal rescues—among other organizations. “We want to have an opportunity through the sales of Lekkco, and something fun like a fundraiser, to give back to different organizations—no matter how big or how small,” Lukas-Bourgeois adds. “When we work with a partner, they get their own dedicated web page and everything’s done online. If they have an in-person event, they can have a pickup of the product, but mostly we ship—especially nowadays.” The company also employs student interns and works with The Mom Project to give women opportunities to women who have paused or departed the workforce to focus on family.

Last year, since in-person events and in-store tastings, were few and far between, the company also developed a campaign called Spread the Love—to spread goodwill and brand awareness—that started almost like a chain letter. Asking friends to spread some love by filling out a postcard, sending it in, and receiving a box of about a dozen jars of Lekkco to share with their friends, resulting in approximately 200 people receiving the offer and more than 7,000 boxes being distributed across the country. Next, the team shared the love with the Northwestern Hospitals Network in the Chicagoland area and donated a jar to each of its 19,0000 employees along with a $1.00 coupon as a thank you for their hard work, kindness, and love during the pandemic. A couple of thousand jars also went to local fire departments. “We’re going to continue that through this year as well.”

Chocolate on Trend

When it comes to trends Lukas-Bourgeois is seeing in the chocolate space, chocolate for breakfast is one, chocolate on charcuterie trays is another, and chocolate in beverages rounds out the list. “We’re seeing a lot of experimentation with chocolate and how to add it to everyday items such as mixed into oatmeal,” she says. “I’ve seen that personally—it’s one of my favorites.” As far as flavor combinations Lukas-Bourgeois seeing, the trends seem to be going back to some original combinations including strawberry, s’mores, and banana. “The past few years there was experimentation with ingredients like turmeric, but I’m seeing this renaissance of back to basics.” She’s also seeing a lot of grab-and-go chocolate for people to have as snacks or a pick-me-up, plus chocolate mixed with grain, heartier bread, or something gluten-free.

Environmentally-friendly Lekkco uses energy-saving methods within its new state-of-the-art facility and its PET jars are 100 percent recyclable. The suggested retail price is $5.99-$6.99 per 9.5 oz. jar. Currently available for purchase in stores at more than 2,250 retailers nationwide—and online at www.lekkco.com and Amazon Prime—plans are also in place to increase the company’s overall distribution footprint in market heading into 2022 and beyond.